The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has charged President Bola Tinubu to ensure that poor Nigerians are not adversely affected by rising prices of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, following the removal of subsidy on the product.

CAPPA enjoined Tinubu to ensure the judicious use of savings from fuel subsidy removal to alleviate the suffering of poor Nigerians.

The group equally urged the President to increase the minimum wage for all workers and make substantial investments in socially beneficial infrastructural projects across the country to enhance the living standard of Nigerians.

It stated this via a statement issued on Sunday, June 11, by its Executive Director, Oluwafemi Akinbode, in commemoration of the 2023 Democracy Day.

Democracy Day is slated for Monday to mark the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

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CAPPA further called on President Tinubu to ensure that his administration works to protect and defend citizens’ democratic rights, stressing that the only way citizens’ longstanding aspirations and hope in true democracy can be met is when Nigerians can choose their leaders in a free, fair, and transparent process devoid of violence, ethnic, and religious hatred.

The group said the President can demonstrate his avowed belief in democracy if he selflessly delivers the dividends of democracy to Nigerians regardless of social status or ethnic, religious, and political affiliation.

CAPPA noted: “According to the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) 2021 ‘Rights Tracker’, the first global report to assess the 13 different human rights contained in United Nations treaties for around 200 countries, Nigeria’s human rights record is ‘very poor and is worse than the average in sub-Saharan Africa’ (Premium Times 24 June 2021). Nigeria scored 54.6 per cent for right to food; 48.2 per cent for right to health; 31.7 per cent for right to housing and 32.0 per cent for right to work.

“The Nigerian state’s inability to provide quality and accessible public education, healthcare, jobs, shelter, a living wage, and social security for most of its citizens is the greatest threat yet to the sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy.

“The present administration should not just pay homage to the legacy of June 12 but work selflessly to ensure that democracy means more than just regular elections but a better life for all Nigerians.

“With the recent removal of fuel subsidy, the administration must work even more seriously to ensure that poor Nigerians are not adversely affected by rising prices of petrol and daily utilities. We urge the administration to ensure the judicious use of savings from subsidy removal to alleviate the sufferings that the policy has inadvertently caused ordinary people.”

The Star